Indigo De Souza - All Of This Will End
Indigo De Souza is a force to be reckoned with. Her three albums so far have been equally fantastic, not just for their visually captivating covers painted by her mom, Kimberly Oberhammer, but also from top to bottom in their iconic songs and profound emotional depth. Her records explore a variety of complex emotions encompassing themes of love, life, trauma, depression, and light in a dark and unforgiving world.
Indigo De Souza’s third album is not a mere continuation of her sound and style, but a revelation. All Of This Will End is masterful at its core, with Indigo’s idiosyncratic songwriting style and new band mates like Libby Rodenbough. She is a great singer/songwriter herself (also a member of the band Mipso) who showcases her skills as a talented violinist and backup vocalist on this album. Landon George, Indigo’s new bassist, expressed to me during an encounter at last year’s SXSW that being in her band is a dream come true. He has also released his own music while having been a truck driver. Pretty amazing turn for him!
The title summarizes a series of realizations throughout the record: nothing lasts forever, and all we have is now. Simple but profound ideas that she expands on with references to her life experiences. “Parking Lot” has a modern pain that is simultaneously timeless and instantly relatable even if you’re not a “growing girl”. “It’s hard to be a person feeling anything” sums it up well, but plenty more depth about this numbness and pain is given throughout the short song. Indigo hadn’t made a song stylistically like ”The Water” before, a lovely new experiment that definitely paid off. It showcases some more electronic sounds in these songs, which she has used before but not quite as much as is used on this record. It definitely works well, and adds a different brightness to these songs. “The Water” is a lovely lighter moment that simultaneously makes me want to cry tears of joy and bittersweetness for the life we’re living. It isn’t fair to say this is Indigo’s best album, since they’re all equally beautiful.
When the emotionality of a record is hard to explain in its breadth and expansiveness, including in its transcendental qualities, an artist is definitely on the right track. Indigo comes at you with uncompromising expression and rawness, sometimes sounding like her recordings were done right after the trauma she sings about was experienced. But trauma can be as timeless as art.